3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2017
Lawmakers push Washington tourism Walden seeks to
amend law used
in Hammond case
Money would
fund promotion
By ALEXIS MYERS
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash — Law-
makers are trying to put Wash-
ington state back on the map
when it comes to tourism.
After eliminating the state
tourism office in 2011, the
Legislature is considering
creating a Washington Tour-
ism Marketing Authority to
fund and manage resources
throughout the state.
The authority, made up
of tourism industry officials
and legislators, is expected
to deposit $5 million into its
account every two-year state
budget cycle by diverting 0.1
percent of retail taxes from
lodging, rental cars and restau-
rants. The plan could offer a
maximum of $15 million per
biennium to be spent on tour-
ism across the entire state.
Washington is the only
state without a state-funded
tourism office, according to
the Washington Tourism Alli-
ance, a nonprofit agency that
By SCOTT HAMMERS
The Bulletin
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
A Washington state ferry passes through a channel in the San Juan Islands and in view
of Mount Baker near Friday Harbor, Wash. Lawmakers are trying to put Washington state
back on the map when it comes to tourism.
has picked up from where the
original program left off.
“We’ve simply kept the
lights on over the past five
years,” said David Blandford
of the marketing authority.
Blandford said the agency
has been maintaining the web-
site and taking calls but doesn’t
have the funds other states do
to advertise and promote tour-
ism across the entire state.
Nearby efforts
Nearby states such as Ore-
gon, Montana and Califor-
nia, are spending $5 million to
upward of $120 million a year
to attract visitors, Blandford
said. He said other states like
Idaho are out-spending Wash-
ington by several millions of
dollars.
State Rep. Cary Condotta,
the sponsor of House Bill
1123, says “it’s time for the
state to keep up.”
Beached loggerhead turtle dies after rescue
Turtles suffer
in colder water
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
The best efforts of Seaside
Aquarium and the Oregon
Coast Aquarium staff were
not enough to revive a cold-
stunned loggerhead turtle res-
cued late Saturday in Cannon
Beach.
The loggerhead was
reported dead by the Oregon
Coast Aquarium a day after
arrival for treatment.
Seaside’s Tiffany Boothe
responded to a report of tur-
tles washed ashore at Cres-
cent Beach in Ecola State
Park on Saturday. After walk-
ing a mile and a half along the
beach, she discovered the tur-
ing the reduced sentences
imposed by Hogan. The
Hammonds were resentenced
to five years each with credit
for time served and returned
to prison in January 2016.
The perceived mistreat-
ment of the Hammonds was
at the root of the demonstra-
tions in and around Burns that
led to the takeover of the Mal-
heur National Wildlife Ref-
uge at the same time the Ham-
monds were headed back to
prison.
Demonstrators held the
refuge headquarters for more
than three weeks, at which
point demonstration leader
Robert “Lavoy” Finicum was
shot and killed by Oregon
State Police during a traffic
stop between Burns and John
Day. Most of the remaining
occupiers fled, and the final
holdouts surrendered to law
enforcement last February.
Walden’s bill defines the
circumstances under which
the law would not apply,
carving out exemptions that
would likely have spared the
Hammonds had they been in
place at the time. Provided a
fire was set on an individual’s
private land for the purpose
of protecting that property
or as part of farming-, ranch-
ing- or timber-related vegeta-
tion management — and does
not pose a serious threat of
injury or damage to any indi-
vidual or federal property —
that individual would not be
prosecuted.
Andrew Malcolm, a
spokesman for the Republican
congressman, said because
a law cannot be adopted ret-
roactively, the passage of
Walden’s bill would have no
effect on the Hammonds’ con-
viction or imprisonment.
Walden proposed an iden-
tical measure last year, accord-
ing to Malcolm. Malcolm
said the measure attracted five
co-sponsors from Western
states, but Congress ran out
of time before the proposal
could be considered.
Convictions
prompted
standoff near
Burns last year
Oregon Coast Aquarium/
For The Daily Astorian
Front view of the logger-
head rescued in Cannon
Beach Saturday. The turtle
failed to survive after spe-
cialized treatment.
tle near Chapman Point.
Boothe and Seaside Aquar-
ium staff member Molly
Schmidt recovered the animal
and assisted in transferring it
to Newport Sunday morning.
A threatened species, log-
gerhead sea turtles are con-
sidered a “rarer species” to
strand on Oregon beaches,
according to Jim Burke, the
Oregon Coast Aquarium’s
director of animal husbandry.
The Oregon Coast Aquar-
ium and Seattle Aquarium are
the only rehabilitation facil-
ities in the northwest United
States authorized by the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to
provide the specialized care
sea turtles require.
Most stranded turtles in
recent years have been olive
ridley and green sea turtles,
Burke said.
Two olive ridleys, named
Thunder and Lightning, were
transported from the North
Coast to SeaWorld in San
Diego last winter. Thunder
died, but Lightning continues
rehabilitation, SeaWorld offi-
cials said in January.
Loggerheads are known
for their large heads and
heavy, strong jaws and can
weigh up to 375 pounds.
They are listed as a threat-
ened species due to coastal
development.
The last loggerhead to
arrive alive at the aquarium
was on Christmas Eve 2007,
and it also survived only one
day, Burke said.
During the winter, cold-
shocked sea turtles can
become stranded on beaches,
Boothe said Sunday. Water
temperatures in Newport are
at least 20 degrees lower than
those needed for survival.
Reports of stranded tur-
tles can begin as early as
mid-October and can con-
tinue through January, Boothe
said. This was the third turtle
to wash ashore this year, but
the only one to be recovered
alive.
BEND — U.S. Rep. Greg
Walden is sponsoring a bill
that would soften the fed-
eral statute used to convict
the Harney County ranch-
ers whose imprisonment was
central to last year’s Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge
standoff.
The bill would exempt
from prosecution people who
violate the law under circum-
stances similar to Dwight and
Steven Hammond.
In 2012, the Hammonds
were convicted of setting fires
on their ranch in 2001 and
2006 that spread to federal
land. The Hammonds main-
tain the earlier fire was set to
control invasive plants, while
prosecutors maintained it was
to cover up illegal hunting.
In 2006, Bureau of Land
Management
firefighters
were battling nearby blazes
sparked by lightning, and the
Hammonds lit a backburn
in an attempt to prevent the
already-burning fires from
encroaching on the winter
feed for their cattle.
The Hammonds were
tried under a federal statute
that establishes a minimum
of five and a maximum of 20
years in prison for any person
who uses fire or explosives to
damage or destroy or attempt
to damage or destroy federal
property.
However, U.S. District
Judge Michael Robert Hogan
declined to impose the mini-
mum sentence on the Ham-
monds and said at the time
doing so would “shock the
conscience.”
The federal government
appealed and won, negat-
Four seek vacant Seaside council seat
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Four candi-
dates stepped forward to fill
a City Council vacancy. Nor-
man Brown, John Chapman,
George Stacey and Steve
Wright each provided a min-
imum of 10 signatures from
Ward 1 residents and filed
forms with the city indicating
interest in filling the remaining
two years of Jay Barber’s four-
year term.
The opening comes after
Barber was appointed mayor
to finish the remainder of for-
mer Mayor Don Larson’s
four-year term. Larson died
in December after serving 14
years as mayor.
“We have a very difficult
task before us,” Barber said.
“We have four applicants,
all of whom are very highly
qualified.”
Brown, a three-year Sea-
side
resi-
dent, is retired
after a career
as a human
resources man-
ager and direc-
tor. He is a
member of the Jay Barber
city’s
parks
advisory committee.
Chapman, a 23-year resi-
dent, is a business owner and
property manager of Seaside
Factory Outlets. He has served
on city advertising and budget
committees.
Stacey, a former high
school teacher and broker with
John L. Scott Real Estate, is a
member of the Sunset Empire
Park and Recreation Depart-
ment. He is a 50-year Seaside
resident.
Wright, a Seaside home-
owner for nearly five years, is
a current member of the Bud-
get Committee and Planning
Commission. He is the for-
mer chief financial officer of
Columbia Grain Inc.
“The process that will now
happen, the council will inter-
view each of these applicants
and in an open meeting we will
vote to appoint,” Barber said.
City Council members will
interview the candidates Mon-
day from noon to 4 p.m. Each
interview is expected to take
about an hour, Barber said.
The council aims to decide
at the last meeting in February.
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